Various obstacle-avoidance methods and systems have been proposed for unmanned vehicles, such as UAVs.
US Patent Publication 2008/0059015 to Whittaker, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes systems, methods, and apparatuses for high-speed navigation, preferably encompassing systems, methods, and apparatuses that provide for autonomous high-speed navigation of terrain by an un-manned robot. By preferably employing a pre-planned route, path, and speed; extensive sensor-based information collection about the local environment; and information about vehicle pose, the robots evaluate the relative cost of various potential paths and thus arrive at a path to traverse the environment. The information collection about the local environment allows the robot to evaluate terrain and to identify any obstacles that may be encountered. The robots thus employ map-based data fusion in which sensor information is incorporated into a cost map, which is preferably a rectilinear grid aligned with the world coordinate system and is centered on the vehicle. The cost map is a specific map type that represents the traversability of a particular environmental area using a numeric value. The planned path and route provide information that further allows the robot to orient sensors to preferentially scan the areas of the environment where the robot will likely travel, thereby reducing the computational load placed onto the system. The computational ability of the system is further improved by using map-based syntax between various data processing modules. By using a common set of carefully defined data types as syntax for communication, it is possible to identify new features for either path or map processing quickly and efficiently.
German Patent Publication DE 102005020594, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes an unmanned, remote control helicopter fitted with at least two cameras nominally set with parallel optic axes and with the ability to vary the angle between the optic axes up to 20 deg. The cameras are spaced apart by 5 to 50 cm. and are each fitted with a transmitter and separate remote control, and can be operated in a synchronous manner.